A Little Travel Memory … Pervasively Damp & a Balinese Dancer

Shannon

7 years ago

balinese cultural dancer

Often, the nightly cultural shows specifically arranged for tourists make me cringe and think “oh my dear lord it must be so cheesy.” Surprisingly though, this cultural dance in the center courtyard of a beautiful Balinese temple was captivating. I overlooked that it’s wasn’t actually ceremonial and enjoyed the dancer’s long-practiced moves and obvious training as the performers led the audience through a story of good versus evil, dragons and temptation (and I mean really, is there any other kind of story?!)

A Balinese cultural dancer performing a story about traditional Balinese mythology

Even better though, and more memorable, was the fact that this was one of the last days without rain before I left Bali…from this evening onward the sheets of rain interchanged with near 100 percent sunshiny humidity. The blanket of damp covered my every waking moment in Ubud and the cultural dance is my last clearly dry memory of Ubud. When I left town three days later I didn’t realize the dampness had permeated every single item in my backpack.

I unpacked in Los Angeles 24 hours after leaving Ubud (lots of layovers) and everything was damp. T-shirts? Check. Socks? Check. Pants, underclothes, towel, and notebook? Check, check, check and check. The rain and pervasive humidity last September in Bali was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced!